Pink Floyd is best known as the band whose Dark Side of the Moon broke all records as the longest charting album in rock music history. Dozens of their songs are classic rock staples, the feature length film of their rock opera The Wall is a cult classic, and their sound is as instantly recognizable as their enigmatic back story. Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd is co-directed by Roddy Bogawa, the filmmaker behind Taken by Storm: The Art of Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis, and Storm Thorgerson, a Pink Floyd intimate who started the graphic arts team which illustrated the band’s most iconic album covers. But the band’s founder and guiding light, Syd Barrett, dimmed in the glare of the spotlight, leaving the group after their second album, long before they achieved the stratospheric success their later work would bring. The...
- 7/14/2023
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' star Jane Russell has died at the age of 89. The World War II sex symbol died at her Californian home from a respiratory-related illness on Monday (28.02.11), her daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield confirmed. She said: "She always said, 'I'm going to die in the saddle, I'm not going to sit at home and become an old woman.' And that's exactly what she did, she died in the saddle." Although a huge movie star in the 1940s and 50s, her fame depleted by the late 60s and she last appeared in a film in 'Darker than Amber' in 1970. However, she did take a starring role in short lived TV series 'The Yellow Rose' in the early 1980s. Discussing why she left Hollywood, Jane once revealed she became "too old" to be a star. She said: "Why did I quit movies? Because I was getting too old!
- 3/1/2011
- by Zoé Berger
- Bloginity
Los Angeles — She was the voluptuous pin-up girl who set a million male hearts to pounding during World War II, the favorite movie star of a generation of young men long before she'd made a movie more than a handful of them had ever seen.
Such was the stunning beauty of Jane Russell, and the marketing skills of the man who discovered her, the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.
Russell, surrounded by family members, died Monday at her home in the central coast city of Santa Maria. Her death from respiratory failure came 70 years after Hughes had put her on the path to stardom with his controversial Western "The Outlaw." She was 89.
Although she had all but abandoned Hollywood after the 1960s for a quieter life, her daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield said Russell remained active until just a few weeks ago when her health began to fail. Until then she was active with her church,...
Such was the stunning beauty of Jane Russell, and the marketing skills of the man who discovered her, the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.
Russell, surrounded by family members, died Monday at her home in the central coast city of Santa Maria. Her death from respiratory failure came 70 years after Hughes had put her on the path to stardom with his controversial Western "The Outlaw." She was 89.
Although she had all but abandoned Hollywood after the 1960s for a quieter life, her daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield said Russell remained active until just a few weeks ago when her health began to fail. Until then she was active with her church,...
- 3/1/2011
- by AP
- Huffington Post
'40s and '50s screen legend Jane Russell has passed away. The actress died Monday at her home in Santa Maria, Calif. from respiratory heart failure, her family told The Associated Press. She was 89. Russell starred in Howard Hughes' 'The Outlaw' in 1941. Staying true to her Western roots, her daughter-in-law, Etta Waterfield, told the AP, "She always said I’m going to die in the saddle, I'm not going to sit at home and become an old woman." Until recently, Russell remained active in her church and her foundation, World Adoption International Agency. She once shared the screen with another famous bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, in 1953's 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.' Russell referred to Marilyn as "a little sister," according to the AP. The actress retired from movies following 1970's 'Darker Than Amber.' Unable to bear children of her own which may have been due to an abortion in high school,...
- 3/1/2011
- by TheInsider
- TheInsider.com
Movie icon and 1950s pin-up Jane Russell has died at the age of 89.
The actress passed away from respiratory problems in her Santa Maria, California home on Monday.
Born in Bemidji, Minnesota in 1921, Russell started out as a receptionist and model in California. She signed a seven-year contract with movie mogul Howard Hughes after he discovered her working for his dentist.
The silver screen sex symbol became an overnight sensation in the mid-1940s when she starred in controversial movie The Outlaw, and she went on to play Calamity Jane opposite Bob Hope in The Paleface. Her most famous role was perhaps opposite Marilyn Monroe in 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
She failed to live up to her early promise as a movie star and became best known for her looks and figure. Russell was the number one pin-up girl of U.S. troops stationed overseas during World War Two and beyond, and her curvy figure earned her a 1970s spokesmodel role for Playtex bras. The Jane Russell Peaks in Alaska are named after her trademark breasts.
A vocal advocate of adoption, she also founded the Women's Adoption International Fund. Unable to have children of her own, Russell adopted three kids with her first husband Bob Waterfield. She was married three times. Her third husband, John Calvin Peoples, died in 1999.
Her second husband, Roger Barrett, died just three months after the couple wed in 1968.
A born-again Christian, the actress held weekly Bible study classes at her homes in Montecito and Santa Maria.
Her 1986 autobiography was called My Path and My Detours.
A service will be held to honour Russell at Pacific Christian Church in Santa Maria on 23 March.
The actress passed away from respiratory problems in her Santa Maria, California home on Monday.
Born in Bemidji, Minnesota in 1921, Russell started out as a receptionist and model in California. She signed a seven-year contract with movie mogul Howard Hughes after he discovered her working for his dentist.
The silver screen sex symbol became an overnight sensation in the mid-1940s when she starred in controversial movie The Outlaw, and she went on to play Calamity Jane opposite Bob Hope in The Paleface. Her most famous role was perhaps opposite Marilyn Monroe in 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
She failed to live up to her early promise as a movie star and became best known for her looks and figure. Russell was the number one pin-up girl of U.S. troops stationed overseas during World War Two and beyond, and her curvy figure earned her a 1970s spokesmodel role for Playtex bras. The Jane Russell Peaks in Alaska are named after her trademark breasts.
A vocal advocate of adoption, she also founded the Women's Adoption International Fund. Unable to have children of her own, Russell adopted three kids with her first husband Bob Waterfield. She was married three times. Her third husband, John Calvin Peoples, died in 1999.
Her second husband, Roger Barrett, died just three months after the couple wed in 1968.
A born-again Christian, the actress held weekly Bible study classes at her homes in Montecito and Santa Maria.
Her 1986 autobiography was called My Path and My Detours.
A service will be held to honour Russell at Pacific Christian Church in Santa Maria on 23 March.
- 3/1/2011
- WENN
Jane Russell, the voluptuous actress known for her roles in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and The Outlaw along with her lifelong work as an advocate for adoption, passed away today in Santa Maria, CA. She was 89.
She was born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell on June 21, 1921 in Bemidji, Minnesota, the eldest of five children and the only daughter of Roy, an Army lieutenant and Geraldine, an actress. After her father's retirement from the Army and acceptance of a job in California, the family relocated to California's San Fernando Valley and eventually Burbank. She spent her teen years taking piano lessons (at her mother's insistence) and grew interested in theater, joining the drama club at Van Nuys High School and taking part in productions there. Her plan to become a designer after graduation was dashed after the death of her father, when she instead found a job as a secretary and receptionist in order to help support her family. At her mother's urging, she continued to hone her skills with training at stage director Max Reinhart's School of the Theatre, and made additional money working as model.
Her dramatic studies, combined with good fortune -- she was reportedly discovered while working at her receptionist job -- brought Jane to the attention of Howard Hughes, who signed her to a seven-year contract in 1940 after a protracted search for a woman to star in his next project, The Outlaw. The movie, which completed filming in February of 1941, was denied release because it violated the Hayes Office production codes for decency (they were unhappy with the display of Russell's cleavage). While Hughes and the Hayes Office negotiated cuts to the film, Russell was sent on an extensive tour to promote the unreleased picture; her tour, combined with provocative ads and photos promoting the film, put her on the national radar, and a limited release of the trimmed down film in 1943 (along with a wider release in 1946) made her a star. Also in 1943, Jane married Bob Waterfield, her high school sweetheart, who was the UCLA quarterback at the time and who would go on to become a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback for the Cleveland Rams/Los Angeles Rams.
Jane's next film appearance was five years later, in 1946 with RKO's The Young Widow, which was the first time that she would be seen by most filmgoers, since The Outlaw was still tied up in Hayes Code violations. Her following films found her cast with some of the most popular leading men of the time -- Bob Hope in 1948's The Paleface; two incendiary pairings with Robert Mitchum (His Kind of Woman, Macao); co-starring with Victor Mature and Vincent Price in The Las Vegas Story, with Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx in 1951's Double Dynamite, and with Clark Gable and Robert Ryan in The Tall Men (1955).
However, it would be her co-starring role with another popular leading lady of time for which she would be most commonly remembered: as Dorothy Shaw in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, with rising star Marilyn Monroe. The pair, cast as two showgirl best friends sailing to Paris to find husbands, redefined the musical with their comedic, overtly sensual stylings and became real-life friends in the process.
As Jane continued to expand her film resume through the mid 1950s, she and her husband Bob continued to build their life together. Unable to have children of their own, they chose to adopt, bringing Tracy and Thomas in 1952, and Robert in 1956, into their family. The adoption struggles the couple faced inspired Jane to found the World Adoption International Fund, which assisted in simplifying the adoption process for over 50,000 families as well as lobbying for the passage of 1953's Federal Orphan Adoption Bill and 1980's Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act.
Jane's already-busy offscreen life included time spent building her musical career; beside her albums 'Let's Put Out the Lights' and 'Jane Russell' and singles recorded with the likes of Frank Sinatra, she would also appear in her own solo nightclub act that toured around the world, and later formed a gospel group with Connie Haines and Beryl Davis that released a single that reached number 27 on the Billboard chart.
As her film roles became less notable - her last being in 1970's Darker Than Amber - Jane returned to the stage, where she appeared in both Broadway and regional productions, and also appeared in TV series The Yellow Rose and Hunter. Her marriage to Bob Waterfield ended in divorce in 1968; she was married twice more, to Roger Barrett (August-November 1968) and to John Calvin Peoples (from 1974 until his death in 1999).
She is survived by her children Tracy, Thomas and Robert.
She was born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell on June 21, 1921 in Bemidji, Minnesota, the eldest of five children and the only daughter of Roy, an Army lieutenant and Geraldine, an actress. After her father's retirement from the Army and acceptance of a job in California, the family relocated to California's San Fernando Valley and eventually Burbank. She spent her teen years taking piano lessons (at her mother's insistence) and grew interested in theater, joining the drama club at Van Nuys High School and taking part in productions there. Her plan to become a designer after graduation was dashed after the death of her father, when she instead found a job as a secretary and receptionist in order to help support her family. At her mother's urging, she continued to hone her skills with training at stage director Max Reinhart's School of the Theatre, and made additional money working as model.
Her dramatic studies, combined with good fortune -- she was reportedly discovered while working at her receptionist job -- brought Jane to the attention of Howard Hughes, who signed her to a seven-year contract in 1940 after a protracted search for a woman to star in his next project, The Outlaw. The movie, which completed filming in February of 1941, was denied release because it violated the Hayes Office production codes for decency (they were unhappy with the display of Russell's cleavage). While Hughes and the Hayes Office negotiated cuts to the film, Russell was sent on an extensive tour to promote the unreleased picture; her tour, combined with provocative ads and photos promoting the film, put her on the national radar, and a limited release of the trimmed down film in 1943 (along with a wider release in 1946) made her a star. Also in 1943, Jane married Bob Waterfield, her high school sweetheart, who was the UCLA quarterback at the time and who would go on to become a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback for the Cleveland Rams/Los Angeles Rams.
Jane's next film appearance was five years later, in 1946 with RKO's The Young Widow, which was the first time that she would be seen by most filmgoers, since The Outlaw was still tied up in Hayes Code violations. Her following films found her cast with some of the most popular leading men of the time -- Bob Hope in 1948's The Paleface; two incendiary pairings with Robert Mitchum (His Kind of Woman, Macao); co-starring with Victor Mature and Vincent Price in The Las Vegas Story, with Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx in 1951's Double Dynamite, and with Clark Gable and Robert Ryan in The Tall Men (1955).
However, it would be her co-starring role with another popular leading lady of time for which she would be most commonly remembered: as Dorothy Shaw in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, with rising star Marilyn Monroe. The pair, cast as two showgirl best friends sailing to Paris to find husbands, redefined the musical with their comedic, overtly sensual stylings and became real-life friends in the process.
As Jane continued to expand her film resume through the mid 1950s, she and her husband Bob continued to build their life together. Unable to have children of their own, they chose to adopt, bringing Tracy and Thomas in 1952, and Robert in 1956, into their family. The adoption struggles the couple faced inspired Jane to found the World Adoption International Fund, which assisted in simplifying the adoption process for over 50,000 families as well as lobbying for the passage of 1953's Federal Orphan Adoption Bill and 1980's Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act.
Jane's already-busy offscreen life included time spent building her musical career; beside her albums 'Let's Put Out the Lights' and 'Jane Russell' and singles recorded with the likes of Frank Sinatra, she would also appear in her own solo nightclub act that toured around the world, and later formed a gospel group with Connie Haines and Beryl Davis that released a single that reached number 27 on the Billboard chart.
As her film roles became less notable - her last being in 1970's Darker Than Amber - Jane returned to the stage, where she appeared in both Broadway and regional productions, and also appeared in TV series The Yellow Rose and Hunter. Her marriage to Bob Waterfield ended in divorce in 1968; she was married twice more, to Roger Barrett (August-November 1968) and to John Calvin Peoples (from 1974 until his death in 1999).
She is survived by her children Tracy, Thomas and Robert.
- 3/1/2011
- by Heather Campbell
- IMDb News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.